The Stinger Report looks at ASI 2008 (part 1)

ASI ends today and with it of course we have updates from what has happened at the show. First, here is a look at the show from The Stinger Report’s point of view, then I’ll go on in the next post or two describing my experience.

ASI opened to a greatly reduced show floor and major departures from leading corporations as Namco and Sega see executives move on.

Sega had a vastly reduced presence with only two videos to show: RaceTV’s latest build with password, and Primeval Hunt. The latest software release for both – and that was it! Their booth was hard to find off the show floor with no large banners up for display to help attendees locate them.

Namco also had a limited video showing, with no new releases – redemption reigning king on their booth. The operation spoke off the record with The Stinger
Report about the Tekken 6 situation (not shown) and promised an official statement at the end of the show.

Global VR was a example of good video presence, with a large network
line-up of NASCAR, and the new Blazing Angels WWII flyer all getting major coverage in the video desert of the show.

Betson / Raw Thrills another major video winner – crowds flocking to blast the wild animals of Africa on Big Buck Safari – along with the launch of the kit from DRIFT, Raw Thrills rocked the show. Betson did confirm that they were still supporting Konami with one Dance Dance SuperNova2 machine on booth hidden away to one corner.

Andamiro had their latest Pump It Up Pro, and a new screen basher game (more to come on that later).

Finally in this brief run down of the video on the show floor TrioTech had their UFO Stomper, showing off the latest of the mini-games and drawing happy crowds to the physical stomper action.

Big anticipation to the public four hour session on Saturday, rumors thick on what can be expected.